Campaign On This gave you a quick bio and campaign finance background on Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee, who are seeking the Republican nomination for president in 2016. Now another United States senator has thrown his hat into the race: Lindsey Graham from South Carolina.
Senator Graham served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995–2003. He was then elected to the U.S. Senate and has served since 2003. Senator Graham is currently assigned to multiple committees in the Senate, which include the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on the Budget, and the Committee on the Judiciary. Graham also previously served on the Committee on Health Education, Labor and Pensions (2003-2005); the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry (2007-2009); the Select Committee on Intelligence (2007-2009); the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (2007-2011; the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (2009-2011); and the Special Committee on Aging (2009-2013).

Between 2009 and 2014, Graham’s Campaign Committee raised $11,056,889 and spent a total of $11,464,087 which is a mere 407,198 over what was raised. His top five contributors were Scana Corporation, General Electric, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP, Boeing Company and Elliott Management. The top five industries that donated to his cause were Lawyers/Law Firms, Securities and Investment, Retirees, Real Estate and Electric Utilities. The breakdown of his fund sources consists of Individual Contributions (70% ), PAC Contributions (20%) and Other (10%). Interestingly, Senator Graham’s self-financing is listed at 0%. Individual Contributions make up a large portion of these funds and are broken down into two categories: Small Individual Contributions (2%) and Large Individual Contributions (68%).The charts below provide a closer look at these numbers.

What are your thoughts on where the fundraising money was contributed? Did any of this data surprise you, especially since Senator Graham did not self-finance himself at all? How does he compare to the other candidates seeking the Republican nomination for president?